An attempt to help explain the mysteries and magic that are part and parcel of 'probation'.

Saturday, 23 December 2017

Pick of the Week 36

So Ingeus (RRP) have made a loss of £12.6m in 2 years across SWM and DLNR CRC's, been given a bung of £36m up until 2021 and still have proceeded in giving 50% of all back office staff a 90 day redundancy notice just before Christmas. What is going on?

*****I have often wondered how other parts of the Criminal Justice System, let's not forget that public protection, reducing reoffending, rehabilitation resettlement are collective efforts not just Probation work, about privateers making profit for getting the form filling right. The other cash strapped parts must look across at the so called Rehabilitation Companies (Rehabilitation my proverbial arse!) and scratch there heads or gesticulate in other ways over their disbelief. They must say, why am I spending my precious resources, money, fixed assets and people supporting this bunch of ... I dare say that was already muttered many, many months ago in many different quarters and I think subsequently decisions have been made. How are the government going to restore confidence?

*****It's also curious how a story about these phones which was covered extensively by the tabloid press in early 2016, gets another moral panic going. A nice platform for Liddington to talk tough, perhaps?

*****In the 1990's I worked in a magistrates' courts team which included an embedded, seconded mental health professional. They endeavoured to see every new remand prisoner, every sentenced person & every referral for reports - but certainly prioritised anyone with a known link to mental health services or a presentation giving cause for concern. They had a good working relationship with the Police doctors and a hotline to a consultant psychiatrist if required.

*****The former prison's inspector made it clear that cutting resources was increasing risks to safety. Apart for the fact that many with mental health issues should be diverted from custody, it all boils down to funding. If the government had the same political will that found £1bn for the DUP, there would be no mental health crisis in the prisons.

*****I'm pretty old and knackered now, and have seen many governments come and go, but I can honestly say that this Tory Government today is the worst I've ever seen. And by some at that. Their ideological-driven policies are having a brutal effect on all but those rich enough not to care. The justice Secretary whilst signing off on cuts to legal aid has employed a 'second' speech writer at £70,000pa. Cuts to prisons and probation go hand in hand with lucrative contracts to private companies.The NHS is being sold off at an alarming rate. This week Serco acquired a contract worth over a hundred million to deliver health care, but they didn't get it from the NHS, they bought it from Carillion?!?!? David Gauke the work an pensions minister defended a 140% rise in rough sleeping. A 60% rise in homelessness, and a big rise in child poverty by extolling the wonderful values of universal credit, and the governments record on reducing unemployment on the Andrew Marr show this weekend.Everything's a smokescreen, they spout out all kinds of patronising crap to the population and don't really care if it's believed anymore. Lidington today will talk about drugs, drones and mobile phones, not about cuts, squalor, mental health and violence. Nor will he talk about what those in prison now can expect upon release. No accommodation, no benefits, and no real support. I'm sick of this government I really am, and they need to go ASAP.

*****I'd like Lidlington to use his statement today to say a few words about how phones, drones and drugs, are responsible for a 64 year old alcoholic sex offender (with previous) and required to sign the sex offenders register, being released from prison homeless to live in a public park?*****That will be an NPS case then. Just shows how appalling the housing situation is. This man should have been placed in supported housing or approved premises and monitored very closely, but the crisis we have in probation coupled with a housing crisis and MoJ doing nothing to assist us means a risky and also vulnerable man is sleeping rough in a park where he could pose a risk to public. He will be out again soon and what then? Back out on the street is quite likely. The MoJ need to invest in accommodation that can be used to place our service users. The housing crisis is one of the most significant issues we are struggling with now as an entire nation and offenders are at the bottom of the pile in terms of priority. As [above] points out, this government are presiding over the biggest fuck up we have witnessed since we were last at war. I am not joking! Unless something is done we are going to witness deprivation that hasn't been seen for over 50 years. People unable to afford a home, fuel or food. What the hell is going on? We have to get rid of this government.

*****Lidingtons comments about ROTL and more people being allowed to go to work from prisons and greater use of tagging is a precursor for extending tagging to more prisoners reaching the end of their sentence in an attempt to reduce the prison population.

*****I certainly hope so. No Governor is going to be able to turn this around but I reckon this is the tip of the iceberg. I have heard similar reports about other prisons including Bristol with regard to filth, cockroaches, drugs and violence. The whole system is failing whilst Government use Brexit as a handy smokescreen. Not long before the national press post staff at doors of prison to interview inmates as they exit. I can see another documentary.

*****Carillon have the contract for prison maintenance, but will only recognise the MoJ as its employer. Hence, the governor has to ask the MoJ for work to be carried out, who in turn have to get the contractor to do the work. I doubt if getting A wings showers fixed is a high priority for David Lidlington or Sam Gymah to sign off on.

*****I was having a thought about outing myself. I then thought what if thousands of us did the same, stopped being scared, you know like, 'I'm Spartacus!' several thousand times over. However, 5000 headteachers petitioned the government recently and seemingly to little effect. We have some of our most senior representatives no longer couching their language, they are saying this isn't working, this is a disgrace. But all met with a baffling, infuriating soundbite reply. I am sure at some point someone of distinguish will actually throw a wobbly, express numerous expletives, get personal, suggest moral failings. You know, I'm sure your Mother loves you but ... this is a fucking disgrace.

*****I have seen a couple of comments regarding the upcoming move for Harrow CRC to Denmark House - which is in the borough of Barnet. A distance of 6.2 miles from the current office. The impact this can/will have on Service Users is worrying, to say the least. Service Users will now face anything from a 45min - 1.5 hour journey to attend appointments, depending on where they reside in Harrow. Giving ongoing coverage of lack of face to face meetings, this can only be viewed as negative in terms of engagement.

Just think about the service users who have mental health issues (paranoia, PTSD, anti-social disorder etc) and how they will fare on a 3 bus trek to attend an appointment. Along with those with drug/alcohol dependencies who struggle at times to attend appointments, on time, locally. Service Users of NFA in Harrow. Those who have no funds to purchase food let alone an increase in travel expenditure. The impact this will have on a practitioners ability to support, engage and advocate for service users.

Gone will be the ability to support cases in real crisis to local housing services. No longer is the civic centre a three minute walk. Gone will be the ability to support cases to local agencies such as WDP to ensure scripting. Gone will be the ability to support those in MH crisis to Bentley House for urgent assessment or support. Gone will be the ability to link in quickly with the Job Centre when Service users are being failed and need someone to advocate on their behalf. Now we will have to instruct them from Barnet, back to Harrow, to engage with such services.

There is a lot of focus on how poor CRC teams operate. How poorly they engage with service users. Probation Officers (which is what we are...not Offender Mangers!) want to have a positive impact with those we work with. The few restrictions now in our way highlighted above, it’s just demoralising. This year alone, I am aware of service users managed by Harrow who have received quality 1-1 support to help achieve change. Being out of borough will, I guarantee, reduce such positive change.

It’s all well and good being told we can provide travel fares for service users - though not to promote this (we are though, loudly). This isn’t the issue. It’s being removed from local services, partnership agencies which contribute to change. It’s scandalous. Desperate to being only two weeks away from this move - local agencies are yet to be informed by management. No discussions have been held about how such a move will be managed going forward. Look Ahead - a very important housing service for OM’s and Service Users - have stated they will not attend Denmark House and are likely to withdraw there service.

Still no office space has been secured for staff moving to Denmark House. Of concern, as seen by Dorset Close recent move to Askew Road - will there even be adequate interview rooms to hold appointments covering Barnet & Harrow cases? There isn’t at Askew Road to meet demand. No changes in letter heads, OM contact number. It’s all very silent from management given such a big change approaching. Such a move - all to save a few quid - is neglectful to the service users and the public. It’s being managed appallingly by senior management. It’s a shameful and shambolic decision. BIONIC. Nonsense.

*****No one put in a formal complaint about this Office move. It was all informal moaning and grumbling. A formal grievance that can be done on a group basis force the organisation to account for its decisions and records staff reservations and concerns. If this is not done it looks as if you were all holding hands and singing Kumbaya rather than fighting the closure.

*****As much as I deplore the reduction in local service delivery, it just sounds like you're catching up with the rest of us. Bristol, for example, has a single central office covering a huge geography with crap and costly buses. At least London has comprehensive public transport.

*****Just imagine the difficulties offenders have when travelling 30+ miles in rural locations, some with extremely poor or non-existent transport links. How can you conduct meaningful work when someone has to spend upto 3 hours travelling in each direction to appointments.

*****Salisbury group participants used to be taxied as much as 90mins across Salisbury plain twice a week for groups. Bath group members often had to travel to Bristol. Doesn't even have to be rural particularly, trying to get public transport to central Bristol from 5 miles out can be nigh in impossible.

*****Those resident at HMP Liverpool are there because there's consequences attached to the decisions they've made. It's high time that consequences were attached to the decisions made by politicians, particularly when their decisions are responsible for suicide, selfharm, and even murder. It's true what the ex-con says, if you kept an animal in those conditions you'd be prosecuted and banned from keeping animals probably for life.Health care is provided by a private company, maintenance is provided by a private company, and they should be held to account for their failings. When prisoners are involved in disturbances the MoJ always say, "this behaviour will not be tolerated, and those involved will feel the full force of the law." But if you're forced to sleep in a cell, with a piss covered floor, exposed and dangerous electrical wiring, rats and cockroaches crawling about, written complaints being ignored, then the full force of the law seems a bit harsh to me.I'm pleased the report was leaked, and pleased at the timing. I get fed up of seeing Sam Gymah and Dominic Rabb being sent out to answer questions in parliament or the select committee and nothing getting done. Where's the consequences for those who allowed this to happen? And who's going to put it right?

*****Do Probation staff, now at least, actually realise that recalling people back into these conditions is bloody barbaric. Yes, understood that recall is apt in some extreme cases, however the majority of recall are not done to prevent a known imminent risk. Most recalls rely on that essential tool, the Probation Officers Crystal Ball and come from a back covering/need to do some thing now place.

*****I think now it's pretty safe to assume that sending anyone to one of these inhumane hell holes is going to affect their mental health. Sending someone in or especially back who has a health issue WILL result in that issue getting worse or much worse or even fatal. Why should YOU therefore not be prosecuted for assault-to-manslaughter as you are knowingly inflicting that suffering. Why should you not feel the full force of the law? After all you can no longer say you are not an accessory, can you?

*****Liddington is not well regarded by his department but not detested as much as Grayling was. I have a couple of acquaintances that work at the MoJ who said that very few if any staff supported TR and fully realised that the split was a disaster. Their advice was either all private or all public so Grayling was going to go all private, then some people in MoJ & NOMS pointed out that the supervision of the most serious offenders should not be given to the private sector because it would expose the government to accusations of dodging responsibilities. Grayling was swayed by the arguments to split as this was the safest option for him politically whilst satisfying ideological interests he read in the bluffers guide to Hayek.

*****What an absolute mess, the MoJ need to ask CRC practitioners directly what is really happening. The amount of resource going into recording performance and measuring data is obscene. Red tape, paperwork and box ticking means very little meaningful work is being done face to face anymore, stuck behind our desks. 100% set up to fail.

*****So, as stated throughout the TR project by many, the MoJ expedited an ideologically-driven policy regardless of its validity or efficacy. This scorched earth approach led directly to:- the loss of professional probation service provision- the loss of support for those subject to probation supervision, the loss of many hundreds of jobs & thousands of years of experience- the shovelling of £billions of public funds into the pockets of private enterprise - with nothing worthwhile to show for it.

Grayling, Wright, Cameron, Romeo, Brennan & everyone else involved in this scandalous travesty should be brought to account. They should be publicly named & shamed, humiliated on the record in Hansard to ensure the shameful history of TR cannot be forgotten.

*****"Assume 20% fixed costs and it turned out to be 77%" What kind of business did the MoJ and the private companies think that Probation was? So called professional companies such as Sodexo MUST have known that an assumption of 20% expenditure on fixed costs was totally and unbelievably wrong. Simply considering that fixed costs would include staff costs, pension contributions, accommodation costs, computer systems costs, provision of computers, telephony and office machinery would indicate to anyone with an IQ larger than their shoe size that 20% was nowhere near sufficient. (and I haven't mentioned travel costs, postage, security systems and a host of other "fixed costs" that would need to be taken into account.) That the MoJ proposed 20% as their assumption demonstrates how appallingly bad their knowledge of the real costs of doing any type of business actually is. They are not safe to be let loose. Is it any wonder that it has all gone so terribly, terribly badly. I concur with [above] that all those involved should be publicly "outed" for their shameful destruction of Probation and for the massive cost to the taxpayers that they have brought about. The public should know who these self-serving people are and front page shaming of them in EVERY daily newspaper would be just dessert for them.

*****Money money money. But how much profit has MTCnovo made out of London CRC in the past year? Does anyone know? No me neither. I work like a demon to tick the boxes to generate profits for them. All I ever get is that I am losing them money every time I miss one of their targets, inevitable regardless how many hours I put in. So how much profit over the past year? They are not telling us how much, or why they think the profit they made is somehow not enough. And how much have they invested into their services? They probably haven't invested anything. Quite the contrary. They are useless and so are their paymasters. And the tax payers (me) are mugs for putting up with it.

*****I think it’s high time Probation staff became a little less dedicated to flogging a dead horse in the CRCs and told bosses where to go. Perhaps a bit more stubbornness protest and militancy wouldn’t go amiss. Staff should start by joining or rejoining a union that are prepared to fight for them. The only union to join at present is Napo. If they experienced a Corbyn-like surge in membership and ousted Lawrence who lets face it is a scrapper without a strategy or popular support and not the smart fixer and operator needed, then the fiasco would be exposed and Probation would at least go down fighting in an honest way that might just capture the public imagination.

*****Good job Dino & SSW team; you deserve a really positive result for your tenacity & determination. The law of unintended consequences says you have also probably saved the GS from eviction as he capitalises on your collective effort, so perhaps he'll donate his Xmas bonus to the cause? Sadly he wasn't as focused for the benefit of staff elsewhere when the TR shambles started. The field is set, Napo. Time to play hardball, make amends for the hundreds of jobs given away too easily & recover professional Probation from the depths of despair for the benefit of those who need the Service.

*****Dino is a well known Napo trade unionist. He is good, a capable leader. He has made sure Ian Lawrence has been part of the dispute from the centre of Napo. All our members are well informed of the issue and the constant defence has continued. The dispute is a matter of staff protection based on a failing model of cost cuts and staff sackings by some severance deals. Dino made it clear all members should have the same terms as those who hit the bonanza. A service that respects contract commitments and a fair and similar protection that staff had before TR. He is clear he will never sign off on terms less than what we already own simples. The relationship of Ian Lawrence and his activities in the South west are applauded because Ian Lawrence has been to many SW meetings speaks at branch AGMs with over 40 members attending. Ian Lawrence is delivering support at the highest level for a branch that is clearly doing what all other branches should have done should still be doing and which shows no signs of stopping. Why not give Ian Lawrence some credit for the work he does where it is due?

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It's My Blog

Welcome to the wonderful world of probation! These are the personal thoughts of an ordinary probation officer struggling to come to terms with constant change, whilst trying to do a useful job for society. Sadly, change is so often obviously not progress. I am fully aware that my views do not represent official policy of government, my Service or possibly anyone else - but hey - it's my blog!

ATV 1962 Windsor Davies

About Me

A grumpy, disillusioned, CQSW trained, generic, main grade probation officer based in a small English town. All my contemporaries have either left, retired or been promoted. Newer colleagues simply don't understand the journey I've been on from advise, assist and befriend. (If there is anyone of similar name in the NAPO handbook, it's not me).